Press Release
March 4, 2017

GORDON CONDEMNS KILLING OF VOLUNTEER DOCTOR IN LANAO DEL NORTE

Senator Richard J. Gordon strongly condemned on Friday the murder of a volunteer doctor who had been deployed to Lanao del Norte under the government's Doctors to the Barrios program.

Expressing his outrage, Gordon stressed that Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas' murder should be solved immediately and his killers brought to justice for their crime.

"I strongly condemn the killing of Dr. Perlas who was a humanitarian worker. I urge the authorities to immediately solve his killing so that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. I am outraged that a doctor who is serving the community is killed like this," he said.

Gordon also commiserated with the slain doctor's bereaved family, expressing his deepest sympathies for the loss of a dedicated health officer.

"I commiserate with the family of Dr. Perlas. He was a good man and a dedicated doctor who was not afraid to serve even in areas where no one dares to work. Rest assured that his killers will not be able to evade the long arm of the law," he said.

Dr. Perlas, 31, was shot dead while riding his motorbike in Barangay Maranding Annex by still unidentified suspects on Wednesday night. Perlas came from a medical mission in Sapad town and was on his way home to Barangay Maranding in Lala municipality where he was renting a house when he was shot around 7 pm.

The doctor was rushed to the Lanao del Norte Provincial Hospital in Kapatagan town, but was declared dead on arrival.

Perlas, a native of Aklan, also served as a volunteer doctor for the Philippine Red Cross team during the Zamboanga Siege in 2013.

The doctor reportedly chose to stay in Lanao del Norte even after his contract ended three years ago. He also reportedly belonged to the 30th batch of the Department of Health's "Doctors to the Barrios" program. The said program provides quality health care service to depressed, marginalized, and underserved areas through the deployment of competent and community-oriented doctors.

Perlas was once a medical retainer of the 35th Infantry Battalion before the unit was transferred to Jolo, Sulu. He finished his undergraduate degree at the University of the Philippines Los Banos in 2006 and completed Medicine at the West Visayas State University in 2011.

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